I enjoyed this book a lot. The writing was very well done and the plot was well thought out. I would recommend this book!

I’m the type that goes in blind and judges a book by its cover. The cover was gorgeous. And this book to me was amazing! I just loved it.

This was a bunch of fun
Great world building and Kiar was a protagonist that I liked a lot.
The romance was a bit on the slow burn side. The magic system was cool and hooked me.
I recommend this if you like shapeshifter and romantasies in mediaeval settings.

The story begins with exciting announcements about the characters, catching the reader’s curiosity. It is set in a magical world with medieval and pagan elements, featuring magic, swan princesses, betrayals, and coming of age themes. The protagonist, Kiar, stands out as a young, mature character who prioritizes her kingdom. I found some inconsistencies in the book’s timeline and character accents that confused me. Despite these issues, as Kiar and her sisters grow and develop unique abilities, I eagerly anticipated a more engaging pace. Eventually, the story picked up, and I couldn’t put the book down. The introduction of two side characters, M&F, added bravery and depth to the plot. I hoped for further development of Tuan and Willow’s individuality in future installments. The inclusion of the “swan perspective” added a fun and refreshing quirk to the story. In terms of romance, I had fun guessing the love interests for Kiar, wondering if it would be a “found family” scenario or “enemies to lovers.” However, the tone of the story progressively became darker, exploring themes of jealousy, death, and grief. Overall, I received an advance review copy and voluntarily provide this review

This book was so much fun! I haven't read anything quite like it in a while. The world building was interesting and it was easy to fall in love (and sympathize) with the characters. I can't wait to see where this series goes! I loved the magic system, it was so unique!

I am not going to lie I requested this book because I was drawn to the cover. And thankfully the cover did manage to live up to its hype because the book was just as good. I loved the world building and how it remained consistent throughout. It was superb. The romance is a little slow-burn but sooo good.

Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for giving me an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

In case you’re wondering: YES - the beauty of this story lives up to its pretty cover!

Young Kiar is the feisty middle daughter of the King of Valenia; but she’s also the daughter of the Princess of the Swanfolk. As Kiar learns to navigate womanhood and its complexities - friendships, relationships, family - she must also integrate two precious and significant pieces of her world: the humans and the Swanfolk. Not only that, but Kiar is destined to become Queen of Valenia, which brings about challenges of its own.

This was such a treat to read. I felt immersed in the culture, the simple complexities of the Swanfolk, the uniquely captivating intricacies of Kiar’s challenges. Kiar is a fierce and lovable protagonist who is easy to root for. Getting to grow with Kiar was such a joy.

The culture of the Swanfolk is both well-formulated and unique; it was clearly meticulous world-building on the author’s part, and throughout each day’s breaks from reading I found myself longing to revisit the peaceful world that exists on these pages.

My sole complaint is that the ending felt a bit rushed; the first 3/4 of the book was so calming, making the hurriedness of the final portion a bit jarring. But perhaps, this is an echo, a parallel to the harshness of growing up: it happens very slowly, and then all at once. Because this book is, at its core, an exploration of growing up; becoming one’s own person in the midst of the forces that pull and push you one way or another. It’s a fabulous coming-of-age novel in which our protagonist must explore questions such as:
Who am I?
Who can I trust?
What is important to me?
How do I fight for what I love?
What happens when two things I love are at war with each other?

I’ll leave it to you to discover the beauty of these answers along with Kiar. If you are looking for a coming-of-age fantasy with Spinning Silver vibes, this is for you!

The book cover is stunning, and the Idea behind this book was original. However, I found the book really hard to get into. I also found it difficult to connect with the characters. I wish I had more details about the world they are in. The story line felt really rushed (almost robotic), and I didn’t have the emotional connection I wanted between characters. The family dynamic was beautifully done, and I became invested with them, but the rest of the story was sadly not for me.

A very enjoyable YA novel. The world building and writing starts off strong and while it doesn't get stronger it stays consistent. I love the swanfolk so far and I'm invested in reading about how the different countries treat them.

I absolutely love the main character though and I feel like Kiar has a lot of room to grow. The fact that she's making such difficult decisions is a good read for anyone. I do wish that some of the other characters had a little bit more to them. Especially the other swanfolk that spend so much time with Kiar. We've barely got a glimpse of them other than one is joyful and a little bit bratty and the other is stoic. And the third we've got no real information on at all as he was quickly shafted to the side.

I know that this is going to be a trilogy so I say give a little bit of grace room for the low characterization for side characters at the moment because who knows what would be in the following two. All in all a definite recommendation for my library's YA section and to my friends who also enjoy YA.

I think my biggest issue with this book was it's lack of expression. There was not much diversity on the personality of characters, and it was a lot of tell, not show in both emotion and action.

When I first heard about this book, I found it interesting. The story takes place in the medieval world of Valenia, where humans and swanfolk live in harmony. However, they are always at odds with their northern neighbours. The story is told from Kiar's perspective. She is the middle daughter and heir to the king and queen. Once Kiar is chosen as the heir, her father starts training her to defend and rule the kingdom. Meanwhile, her sisters Adana and Orla, who can turn into swans, learn about the swanfolk from their mother. Kiar feels left out, especially when some of the swanfolk agree to live with them, and she becomes friends with Willow and Tiar. The King of Noermark tries to get one of the girls to marry one of his sons to take over the land, which he is also raiding constantly.

I liked this book. I enjoyed it a lot. The story was slow-paced with a lot of build-up. When the great reveal occurred, it was not what I expected, and it was brilliant because you are really waiting for something different to happen. I am going to rate it with 4 out of 5 stars because some parts felt very slow. You're waiting for something to happen, and you feel like it's almost there, but you keep waiting and waiting. That didn't work for me at all. However, Kiar is a strong main character, she understands and accepts her duties incredibly well. The story includes a romance, but it's a slow-burning one, and it's not the main focus. Willow's character annoyed me because she lacked common sense, but it's probably justified because her culture is different.

Would I recommend this book? Yes. It's a refreshing read with different expectations from the all-powerful main character, and the world is just delightful. This book is coming out in April 2024, so keep an eye out for it.

So, I didn’t like this book. I tried hard to, but in the end I really didn’t. The start was good; it was interesting and intrigued me. And I also feel like it was well written. The cover is what really pulled me in from the start.

I didn’t like this book because I felt there were a lot of errors and mistakes that could have been edited and fixed.
The characters at every plain, they don’t really have different personalities- almost as if they were all based on the same person.
I also feel it was dragged on, there were a lot of irrelevant things in the book.

In all honesty I didn’t really see the point in this book.

I want to truly apologize to the author for the harsh review because I know they put love and work into this book, I just feel it needed some more attention before it should have been published.

I really wanted to like this one, but unfortunately, it fell pretty short. The writing style just didn't work for me. It was flat and boring, like being taught a mythological lesson but out of a history textbook. It should be interesting, it has all the right elements to be a brilliant story, but when you're talked at by a dry professor instead, it sucks the life out. The characters were one dimensional, the pacing was slow, and a real plot didn't start until well into the second half. So much repetitive descriptions but not a lot of on page action.

This book has a very interesting story but I can't say I'm a fan of the writing style. I felt like certain aspects that I really wanted to know about were barely touched on while things that added nothing to the story were constantly being given more detail than necessary.

I also found the characters to all have very under developed personalities and I felt no connection to any of them.

**I read this book as an ARC provided in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and the author.

The cover is beautiful and the description of the book in intriguing, however I found myself struggling to connect to the characters and the story. I believe that I am just not the intended audience for this book. I struggled with having certain things described in great detail in the book that didn’t feel significant to the story.

The story has so much potential, yet I felt as if I was reading a history book - there just was not any connection to the characters or the world for me. I wanted desperately to like this book, but it just wasn’t for me in the end. I must say, I have read books by authors that I have loved, however struggle to connect to their characters from their others books, so I would love to give this author another try in the future.

From a slow burn to a compelling read. I really enjoyed this tale of swanfolk and humans, kings and queens, sisters and rivalries. It was a slow start as the narrator (Kiar) built the story and background, leading us to our surprising and (heartbreaking) main antagonist, of which a few could have been the main one. I enjoyed the family dynamics and the subtlety of the magic interwoven, but not overriding the story. It felt normal that humnas could become swans. I enjoyed the friendship between Kiar, Willow and Tuan as it evolved as Kiar came more into her role of Valenias heir.

I would be intriqued to know more of the other kingdoms beyond Noermark - Valenias main enemy - and also to know what became of Othar who I felt had more to give in the story.

Overall a lovely, well crafted story and I would be keen to see more of what happens.

Before I start, I'd like to apologize to the author for the 1-star review. I'm sure they have put in copious amounts of love and energy to write this book and I believe that every author deserves much much better than a 1-star review.

I tried so hard to like this book. I saw the blurb and I was so excited to start. The prospect of exploring a book with swans, swan shifters/swan folk, and their culture was truly anticipatory.

I'll list the positive points first:

- the starting was good. It was captivating and interesting.
- the cover is really really pretty. I love the aquamarine blue and the gold combination and it would certainly look very nice on a bookshelf.
-great storytelling. The author has a knack for spinning a pretty tale.
- The geography was easy to understand. Simple descriptions and simple histories of the kingdoms and their locations made it very easy to understand. I do wish there was a map attached for reference.
-liked the different folklore and the culture.

But that is where the good points end.

To put this review in one line: "This is the most boring book I've ever read." And I tried to read War and Peace once.

Here's where my problem with this book is:

- bad editing. There are lots and lots of spelling and grammatical mistakes. Even the chapter numbers are written with miscapitalsed spellings. Poor editing.

- my question: are swan folk people of Valenia or are they different kingdom people? This was very very confusing. I wish we'd gotten more details. Also, why would they bring in random swanlings to foster? I never understood who or what the swanfolk are. Where do they live? How do they live? Etc.

- need more show. Not tell. One of the major problems with this book is that the emotions and actions are not described or expressed enough.

All the characters feel extremely wooden.

-Lack of personality- all the characters feel the same. They do not have different personalities. You could interchange the diplomat, the king, the princes, the sword trainer and it wouldn't make the slightest difference.

What is the point of Willow? Or Tuan? They added nothing to the story! Willow is the most boring character I've ever read! Why is she even there? She's so needy and clingy.

- Repeating words. Again a sign of very bad editing.

For example:

>> He rode a bay pony and carried Hollam’s harp behind his saddle, in a tooled leather case so dark it was nearly black. The cover of the case had an intricate knot worked on it in tooled leather.

Tooled leather is used twice in the same paragraph.

>> Our lands are better— richer farmland and wider pastures. Farming is easier here and grazing better.

Better used twice in the same sentence.

>> “Or their king could just fight your father for it. When a younger swan can beat the king, he can become the king.”
“That doesn’t happen often,” Tuan said. “Mostly the king has a son, or a daughter’s mate, who can beat any other swan who attacks the king. So anyone who tried would beat the old king, and then would get beaten right away himself.”

Beat is used 4 times in one paragragh!

This makes the writing feel very juvenile. I would expect this from an unpolished fanfiction on wattpad. Not a seasoned author with previously published books.

- the Royalty. They don't feel like royals at all. More like minor Lords and ladies living in a rundown castle. Where are the palace staff, the guards, the maids, the servants, the butlers, the ladies-in-waiting, the ministers, the soldiers?? The entire castle seems so empty and gloomy. Everything is so..informal. They entertain enemy princes in their bedchambers for God's sake. The Queen cuts the King's hair! Do they not have royal hairdressers or something? There's no jewelry, no extravagant balls, expensive food, embroidered gowns. Nothing that you would expect from a medieval-based novel with kings and queens and princesses. You could replace the castle with a scraggly cottage and it would be absolutely the same.

- Irrelevant details and plots- there is no need to explain what the sheep game is for 8 pages. *yawn*. I understand it's part of the culture but show us how important it is, not telling us that it's a tradition. I don't want to read 8 pages of the main character explaining a game to me when I can understand it if she played it. There's so much irrelevant information.

- Discrepancies in the story. Othar is the oldest or the youngest?

“Prince Othar is the elder, twenty-two years."

“Prince Hafor is closer in age to your daughter, eighteen last spring."

"Prince Othar, the king’s third son.”

In the beginning, we're told that the enemy king has 3 sons. Then later in the story, he has 4-5? And one was banished but no one knew about it??

- Zero Chemistry- you know when you're reading a book and the main love interest is introduced and you can immediately feel the flutters? It's completely absent in this book. I almost missed his introduction. This MC has 3 love interests and none of them have any chemistry with her. I don't even have any idea who she ended up with. First, it's one guy, then it's his brother, then it's the first guy again, then it's the guy she grew up with (for maybe 2 years). I have no idea what she saw in them or what they saw in her. She meets with guy #1 once and then starts crying when she has to break it off a few hours later because she's already in love?? What the heck!

- the story drags waaay tooooo muuuuucccccchhhh. There's so much information about them. I don't need to know what they ate for every meal (apple and cheese btw) or how much wine they drank or every single feasts and festivals. I don't need to know about every single season or harvest and what crops they grow or what berries and cereals and legumes they pick or how they dry the meat and how they season the meat for storage in winter. This is a fantasy novel. Not a manual for Medieval Wilderness Living 101 !!

- not enough emphasis on the scenes. If there's 10 pages in a chapter, 8 of them are spent describing the type of meat they ate or the snow on the ground. And only 2 pages of stale dialogues and maybe half a page of the actual scene and setting. You could cut off 80% of the book and it would not make ANY difference.

Less tell. More show please. I need more than 5 points telling me what happened and less of 10 paragraphs of snow falling.

- Kiar is one of the worst MC I've ever read. She has zero personality. Zero decision-making skills, zero character. She's just Dry with a capital D. In fact none of the characters have any personalities. The story would've been much more interesting if Kiar wasn't a swanling and had to navigate the troubles of her life as a human amongst a swanfolk family.

- Redundancy- ironic since this point is quite redundant as it's the same as above. But there is so much unnecessary writing and purple prose. Why do we need 6 pages of who put their lit candles where or 6 pages of a swordfish (the only action scene in the entire boon btw). Also, why can't they just fly off if they're being hunted by the enemy people? That makes no sense!

- wtf is wrong with the queen? She pours coal and burning ashes on herself, strips naked, and runs off into the wilderness then comes back after she's disowned by her family for being crazy??

- MAJOR PROBLEM:

LACK OF PLOT DIRECTION:

So here's the plot in very simple words.

3 sisters/princesses. King's a human. Queen's a swan shifter/swanfolk.

Older and younger sister unlock swan powers. MC mad she hasn't. Learns swordfight.

Queen brings 3 random swan children to castle. Swan Boy 1 and 2, Swan Girl 1.

Older sister falls in love with Swan Boy 1.

Diplomat of enemy kingdom proposes marriage of enemy prince #1 to MC.

MC meets EP #1, falls in love. Breaks up after 5 min cause he hunts swans. Friendzones him.

Younger sister is a once-in-millenia all powerful black swan. Leaves with Witch Lady to learn power control. Comes for vacation every chapter. Has a crush on Swan Boy #1 (older sisters betrothed).

MC meets EP #2. Fights him for a strip of land. Wins. He runs away.

Swan Boy#1 falls sick. Younger sister gives him love potion to steal him.

MC meets EP#1 and EP#2. Rejects both cause they're jealous.

Younger sister to marry EP#2.

Younger sister does black magic to get Swan Boy#1 to fall for her.

MC and Swan Boy #2 (her new lover) and Swan Girl 1 catch Younger sister and Swan Boy 1 kissing.

MC tells older sister. Older sister kills Younger sister by pushing her into water.

MC and Older sister cover up the murder.

Mc and Older sister confess to parents.

Mother goes mad. Pours burning coals and akses on herself, strips and runs naked and flies away. Dad runs after her. Mother gets kicked out of swan family and now stuck in two forms halfway.

MC goes to find younger sisters witchy teacher. Witchy teacher tells her to her younger sisters ribs, fingers and hair to make a harp.

MC finds poet guy who had dreams of younger sister telling him to make the harp. They team up. Eat drink and sleep for a few days. Bury sister in random grave.

Accidently bind younger sisters soul to harp.

Poet guy brings harp to court to help younger sister reveal the truth of who murdered her. (EVERYONE ALREADY KNOWS CAUSE OLDER SISTER AND MC CONFESSED).

Everyone exorcises younger sister from harp.

Poet guy writes a song.

The End

Now....

How tf did a fantasy book turn into 2 sisters fighting over a guy and covering up the murder of their own sister??

There is absolutely no plot direction. No idea what the point of the story was. No moral of the day. No lesson to be learnt.

This story makes no sense.

WHAT IS THE ULTIMATE POINT OF THIS BOOK??!!

I'm sorry for the extremely harsh harsh review. But this book is NOWHERE NEAR ready to be published. If I was the author, I'd go back to my writing board and rethink the plot of the book. There needs to be multiple edits. Multiple rereads.

I would not recommend this to anybody. If I bought this book, I'd be demanding a refund. If somebody gifted me this book, I'd be blocking them.

I'm genuinely sorry for the bad/negative review. This book has so so much potential. The swanfolk and their lore seem to be amazing. It's just not explored enough. There needs to be a LOT of refining and polishing before it's ready to be out there.

I wish the author best of luck. They have great potential as a wonderful storyteller..it's just that this book is not there..yet.

(This book was an ARC provided to me in exchange for a review. Thankyou to the publisher and Netgalley. My reviews are my own.)


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